Open hearth furnace door



Aug. 3, 1965 J. H. REIGHART ,1

OPEN HEARTH FURNACE DOOR Filed July 17, 1962 s Sheets-Sheet 1 3 g 5 Q: |o an H s gg 8 INVEIYTOR. Junelikegg'lzwfl l5 +i- A a By M p mgfla yofim r F ATTORNEYS Aug. 3, 1965 J. H. REIGHART OPEN HEARTH FURNACE noon 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 17, 1962 M m w m Jzmelikeiglzwrk 9M0, WW8: M

ATTORNEYS Aug. 3, 1965 J. H. REIGHART OPEN HEARTH FURNACE DOOR Filed July 17, 1962 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVEINTOR. Jwne H. Regqlzan? BY 532204425 gon M ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,18,1'78 @FEN HEARTH FURNACE DODR Stine fl. Reighart, 1991 Lee Road, (lleveiand 18, Ghio Filed duly 217, 1962, Ser. No. 21%,349 16 Claims. (Cl. 122493) The invention relates to open hearth furnace doors and more particularly to a watereooled door having a splashproof bottom. I

It is customary in steel mill practice to charge molten metal from a ladle into an open hearth furnace by means of a hot metal spout. It is of course necessary that the water-cooled door of the furnace be raised in order that the molten metal may be poured into the furnace.

During this process of charging the molten metal from the ladle into the furnace, considerable splashing of the molten metal is caused. The hot metal splashes upon the bottom of the furnace door, which has been raised to re ceive the metal.

This frequently results in causing the metal of the water-cooled door to burn through, so that the circulating water lea {S from the door. Because of the great hazard of free-running water in the vicinity of the molten metal entering the furnace, such doors must be immediately removed.

Such piercing of the water jacket of a door with molten metal causes a great maintenance nuisance. Not only must the damaged door be immediately removed in order to prevent serious injury to workers, and/or damage to the furnace and equipment, but it must be promptly replaced before normal furnace operation may be continued.

Doors damaged in this manner may sometimes be repaired, although they are often damaged beyond repair. This creates high maintenance cost, high replacement cost, and excessive furnace production delays, and, as above pointed out, such repairs must be taken care of immediately because of the considerable hazard to personnel and equipment.

It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a Water-cooled open hearth furnace door with means for protecting the bottom of the water jacket from damage by molten metal.

Another object of the invention is to provide such a furnace door with a splash-proof bottom.

A further object of the invention is to provide a furnace door of the character referred to, with a second compartment, in the area of the door normally exposed to the splashing of molten metal, said compartment being filled with refractory material.

A still further object of the invention is to provide suc a furnace door with such a compartment extending along the entire bottom face of the door.

Another object of the invention is to provide a furnace door of this character in which such compartment is adapted to receive monolithic refractory material, either cast or rammed.

A further object of the invention is to provide a furnace door of the character referred to, in which a perforated bulkhead is located in said compartment, midway of its length.

A still further object is to provide such a furnace door in which vent holes are provided throughout the length of the refractory compartment to allow for the escape of air which is compressed during the ramming of the refractory therein.

- It is also an object of the invention to provide a furnace door of this character in which a horizontal, perforate, manifold plate forms a final enclosure of the bottom marginal rail, converting the same into a distribution manifold for discharging water equally across the width of the door.

The above objects together with others which will be apparent from the drawings and following description, or which may be later referred to, may be attained by constructing the improved open-hearth furnace door in the manner hereinafter described in detail and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

In general terms the invention may be briefly described as applicable to a conventional water-cooled open-hearth furnace door in the form of a substantially rectangular steel shell. The door may be any conventional type of water-cooled open-hearth furnace door, in which the steel shell forms a water jacket. Hollow marginal rails may be formed as part of the water jacket, and as in conventional practice, these marginal rails may define a pocket on the inner or furnace side of the door for receiving a refractory lining.

The invention consists in a second hollow compartment extending the full length of the bottom of the door and located at the portion of the door which is exposed to the splashing molten metal, when charging the furnace with molten metal from a ladle.

This second compartment is filled with monolithic refractory material, either cast or rammed. A perforate bulkhead is located midway in said compartment, and vent holes are located throughout the length of the compartment, to allow for the escape of air which is compressed during the filling process.

Having thus briefly described the invention, reference is now made to the accompanying drawings showing preferred embodiments thereof, in which FlG. 1 is a perspective view of the outer or floor side of an open hearth furnace door embodying the invention, parts being broken away for the purpose of illustration;

FIG. 2 an elevation of the inner or furnace side of the door shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 a v rtical sectional view, taken as on the line 33, of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 a horizontal sectional view, taken as on the line 44-, of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a much enlarged vertical sectional view of the lower portion of the door shown in FIGS. 1 to 4;

FIG. 6 is a view similar to FIG. 5 of a slight modification of the invention;

FIG. 7 is a similar view of another modification;

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary perspective view of the lower portion of a modified form of door in which the lower marginal rail forms a distribution manifold, parts being broken away for the purpose of illustration; and

FIG. 9 is an enlarged vertical sectional View of the lower portion of the door shown in FIG. 7.

Referring now more particularly to the embodiments of the invention illustrated in the drawings, in which similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout, the invention is shown as applied to a water-cooled, openhearth furnace door having a hollow steel shell indicated generally at 1.

These steel shells in doors of this general character comprise generally an outer or floor side plate or panel 2 and an inner or furnace side panel 3, which are joined around their four edges by means of inwardly disposed hollow marginal rails 4.

These marginal rails define a pocket 5, on the inner or furnace side of the door, which is filled with refractory material, as indicated at 6. The usual wicket opening 7 may be formed through the lower central portion of the door, and pipe stays or spacers 8, as in usual practice, may be located through the inner and outer panels 2 and 3, providing pee-p holes through which the refractory lining 6 may be inspected from the floor side.

The usual ears or lugs 9 are shown upon the upper end of the door, providing means for raising and lowering the same, and the usual water inlet and outlet 10 and 11 7 charged into an open hearth furnaceby means of a hot metal spout as above referred to, the door of the open hearth furnace is necessarily raised to permit this charging operation. p 1

In the process of charging this molten metal, there is considerable splashing of the same, the hot metal striking the outer bottom corner portion of the door. As

above mentioned, this frequently causes the metal shellof the door to burn through at this point with the result that the circulating cooling water leaksfrom the door, so that the door must be immediately removed from service in order to prevent serious damage to the vfur'nace, a's well as injury to the Workman.

Such doors'are sometimes repairable, although they are often damaged beyond repair. .In any event,'.this creates high maintenance cost, high replacement cost and excessive furnace production delays.

The invention comprises a second hollow compartment at the lower outer corner portion of the door, separate from the water-cooled metal shell. This second compartment is located in the area of the door commonly known to be in jeopardy from splashing hot metal when charging a furnace withfmolten metal and conforms generally with the normal contour of the door. a This'second compartment'is designed to-be fil led with l material 29b. Vent holes monolithic refractory material, either. cast or. rammed,

such as is ordinarily used in open-hearth furnace doors.

In order" to form this second compartment, the lower end of the outer or floor side panel 2;is inclined down wardly and inwardly, as at 13, to a juncture with the downwardly and outwardly inclined bottom wall 12 of the lower hollow rail 4.

Then, as shown in FIGS. 1, 3 and 5, a closure plate such as the angular formed steel or rolled section 14,

7 may bewelded to theouter bottom corner portion of the steel shell, 'as indicated at 15 and 16, forming a compartment of substantially triangular cross section, as indicated at 17.

To facilitate the. packing of the refractory material into this compartment, the same may be divided'inter nally by a perforate bulkhead 18, located midway in the length of the compartment17 and welded or other wise suitably positioned therein. 1

Vent holes 19 are located throughout the length of the closure plate 14 to allow for the escape of air which is compressed during the process of filling the compartment .17 with refractory material 29, and to eliminate voids in the refractory material which air accumulations.

perforate bulkwould cause. The vent hole'21 in the head 18 is provided for the same purpose. 7 ,7 As shown in FIG. 6, the closure plate may be in-the form of a pipe segment 14a, welded at opposite edges to the outer lower corner portion of the steel shell, as at 15a and 16a, forming a'compartment 17a into which the refractory material 20a maybe rammed or cast; Vent holes 19a are provided in the closure plate 14a;

' As shown in FIG. 7, the lower outer corner portion of the door may be deformed from a point higher on the outer or floor side panel 2, being inclined downwardly. and inwardly as at 13a, and then vertically downward, .wall .12 of the as at 13b, to a juncture with the bottom lower hollow marginal rail.

"The formed steel or rolled angle section 14b of; greater height than the section 14 and islwelded at op posite ends, as at 15b, andldb, to the steel sheel o'f the door forming a compartment 17]) to receive refractory 19b may be formed throughout the length of the closure plate 14b.

It should be understood that in both the form shown in FIG. 6 and that in FIG. 7 a perforate bulkhead, corresponding to the bulkhead 18, should be located midway in therefractory compartment.

By-providing this perforate bulkhead midway in the compartment, packing of the refractory material therein is facilitated as the refractory material may be rammed independently into each end portion thereof.-

Vlith the outer lower corner portion of the door thus protected by thisrefr'actory-filled closure plate, the water jacket ofjthe door 'is'protected againstburning through by contact of molten'metal when charging the furnace with molten metal by means of a hot metal spout.

When the closure plate 14, Me or 141) is hit by splashing molten metal, holes may beburned in the same but the refractory filling will prevent the molten met-a1 from cutting into the circulating water supply.

Thus no damage is done to the functional section of the door and it. may remain in service after exposure to such splashing of molten metal, for the balance of the furnace campaign, since, the molten metal will not'penetratethe refractoryfcommonly used in furnaces.

If and when it maybe desirable or necessary to repair such a door, it is only necessary that the closure plate 14, 14a or 14b be cut away and anew closure plate welded to the door and filled with refractory material.

Referring now to the embodiment of the invention illustrated in FIGS. 8 and 9, the door maybe of the general construction shown in FIGS. 1 to 5, but is characterized by having the lower hollow marginal railconverted into a manifold for evenly distributing cooling water over the entire width .of the door.

Insofar as they. are alike, the same reference numerals as used in FIGS. '1 to 5, indicate similar parts in FIGS. 8 and 9. The hollow steel shell is indicated generally at land comprises the outer or floor side plate 2 and the inner or furnace side plate 3 joined around their edges by the inwardly disposed, hollow marginal rails 4.

The pocket 5 on the inner side of the door, defined by thehollow marginal rails 4, contains the usual refractory material 6. Although this embodiment of door may be provided with therusual wicket opening and pipe stays or spacers, as shown in FIGS. 1 to 5, these parts arejnot shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, in order that the invention may be moreclearly illustrated. p i

A closure plate 14, such as shown in' FIGS. 1 to 5, is

' shown welded'to the outer bottom corner portion of the 7 above described.

a as indicated at Sa.

V V In this embodiment of the invention, the top wall 14a of the lower hollow marginal rail 4, is continued across the hollow shell 1 to the outer or floor side panel 2, be-

ing welded thereto as indicated at 2:1, and being welded of the inner or furnace side panel 3,

to the lower edge A plurality of spaced aperturesZZare provided in the portion of the plate'4-a between the panels 2 and 3,'forming a horizontal manifold plate which forms a final closure for the bottom marginal rail 4, converting it into a distribution manifold. f r i a The inlet pipe 10 extends downward through the adjacent vertical hollow marginal rail 4 and through the angular extension .412 of the manifold plate. The apertur es 22 in the plate 4a are evenly spaced throughout the length of the plate, so that cooling water discharged into the interior hollow marginal rail 4 is equally discharged across the widthof the door, so that the water is uniformly distributed throughout the hollow shell.

It should be understood that as the water rises'to the top of the hollow shell it is discharged through an outlet located at the other upper corner of the door, such as indicated at 11' in FIGS. 1 and 2.,'

This is an improvement over conventional practice which has been to merely drop the water feed line to a distance of from 6 to 12 inches from the bottom of the hollow shell and allow the water to discharge naturally into the bottom of the door and find its normal flow level from that point.

In the foregoing description certain terms have been used for brevity, clearness and understanding, but no unnecessary limitations are to be implied therefrom beyond the requirements of the prior art, because such words are used for descriptive purposes herein and are intended to be broadly construed.

Moreover, the embodiments of the improved construction illustrated and described herein are by way of example, and the scope of the present invention is not limited to the exact details of construction.

Having now described the invention or discovery, the construction, the operation, and use of preferred embodiments thereof, and the advantageous new and useful results obtained therebyythe new and useful construction,

I and reasonable mechanical equivalents thereof obvious to those skilled in the art, are set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A water-cooled open hearth furnace door comprising a hollow metal shell forming a water jacket space over the outer side of the door, a closure plate connected to the exterior of the lower outer edge portion of said shell and forming therewith a compartment on the exterior of said shell, and refractory material filling said compartment and providing protection for said lower outer edge portion of said shell against the splashing of hot metal.

2. A water-cooled open hearth furnace door comprising a hollow metal shell forming a water jacket space over the outer side of the door, a closure plate connected to the exterior of the lower outer edge portion of said shell and forming therewith a compartment on the exterior of said shell, and monolithic refractory material filling said compartment and providing protection for said lower outer edge portion of said shell against the splashing of hot metal.

3. A water-cooled open hearth furnace door comprising a hollow metal shell forming a water jacket space over the outer side of the door, a closure plate connected to the exterior of the lower outer edge portion of said shell and forming therewith a compartment on the exterior of said shell, and monolithic rammed refractory material filling said compartment and providing protection for said lower outer edge portion of said shell against the splashing of hot metal.

4. A water-cooled open hearth furnace door comprising a hollow metal shell forming a water jacket space over the outer side of the door, a closure plate connected to the exterior of the lower outer edge portion of said shell and forming therewith a compartment on the exterior of said shell, and monolithic cast refractory material filling said compartment and providing protection for said lower outer edge portion of said shell against the splashing of hot metal.

5. A water-cooled open hearth furnace door as defined in claim 1, in which the closure plate is of angular shape.

6. A water-cooled open hearth furnace door as defined in claim 1, in which the closure plate is of arcuate shape.

'7. A water-cooled open hearth furnace door comprising a hollow metal shell forming a water jacket space over the outer side of the door, the lower outer edge portion of said shell being inwardly and downwardly inclined, a closure plate connected to the exterior of said inclined lower outer edge portion of the shell and forming therewith a compartment on the exterior of said shell, and refractory material filling said compartment and providing protection for said lower outer edge portion of said shell against the splashing of hot metal.

8. A water-cooled open hearth furnace door as defined in claim 7, in which the closure plate is of angular shape.

9. A water-cooled open hearth furnace door as defined in claim 7, in which the closure plate is of arcuate shape.

10. A water-cooled open hearth furnace door comprising a hollow metal shell with inwardly disposed hollow marginal rails at its edges forming a water jacket space over the outer side of the door, the outer side of the lower marginal rail being inclined inwardly and downwardly toward the bottom of said lower marginal rail, a shaped closure plate having its upper edge connected to the exterior of the outer side of said hollow metal shell at the upper end of said inwardly and downwardly inclined outer side of said lower marginal rail and having its lower inner edge connected to the exterior of the lower end of said hollow metal shell at the lower end of said outer side of said lower marginal rail forming a compartment on the exterior of said shell, and refractory material filling said compartment.

1-1. A water-cooled open hearth furnace door comprising a hollow metal shell with inwardly disposed hollow marginal rails at its edges forming a water jacket space over the outer side of the door, the outer side of the lower marginal rail being inclined inwardly and downwardly toward .the bottom of said lower marginal rail, a shaped closure plate having its upper edge connected to the exterior of the outer side of said hollow metal shell at the upper end of said inwardly and downwardly inclined outer side of said lower marginal rail and having its lower inner edge connected to the exterior of the lower end of said hollow metal shell at the lower end of said outer side of said lower marginal rail forming an open-ended compartment on the exterior of said shell, and refractory material filling said compartment.

12. A water-cooled open hearth furnace door comprising a hollow metal shell with inwardly disposed hollow marginal rails at its edges forming a water jacket space over the outer side of the door, the outer side of the lower marginal rail being inclined inwardly and downwardly toward the bottom of said lower marginal rail, an angleshaped closure plate having its upper edge connected to the exterior of the outer side of said hollow metal shell at the upper end of said inwardly and downwardly inclined outer side of said lower marginal rail and having its lower inner edge connected to the exterior of the lower end of said hollow metal shell at the lower end of said outer side of said lower marginal rail forming a compartment on the exterior of said shell, and refractory material filling said compartment.

13. A water-cooled open hearth furnace door comprising a hollow metal shell with inwardly disposed hollow marginal rails at its edges forming a water jacket space over .the outer side of the door, the outer side of the lower marginal rail being inclined inwardly and downwardly toward the bottom of said lower marginal rail, an arcuate-shaped closure plate having its upper edge connected to the exterior of the outer side of said hollow metal shell at the upper end of said inwardly and downwardly inclined outer side of said lower marginal rail and having its lower inner edge connected to the exterior of the lower end of said hollow metal shell at the lower end of said outer side of said lower marginal rail forming a compartment on the exterior of said shell, and refractory material filling said compartment.

14. A water-cooled open hearth furnace door including a hollow metal shell comprising spaced inner and outer walls and means connecting said walls at their edges forming a water jacket spaced over the outer side of the door, a closure plate of a length substantially equal to the width of said metal shell, the upper and lower edges of said closure plate being welded to the exterior of the lower portion of said outer wall forming therewith a compartment on the exterior of said shell and extending across the lower edge portion of the outer side of said shell, and refractory material in said compartment.

15. A water-cooled open hearth furnace door including a hollow metal shell comprising spaced inner and outer walls and means connecting said walls at't heir edges forming a water jacket space ,over the outer side of the door, an angular closure plate of 'a-length substantially extending across the lower U v edge portion ofthe outer side of 'said'shell, and refractory material in said compartment.

equal'to the width of said metal shell, the upper and lower edges ofsaid closure plate being Welded to the ex- 3 terior of the lower portion of said outer wall forming therewith a compartment on the exterior of said shell and extending across the lower edge portionof the outer side of said shell, and refractory material in said corn-part ment. 1 a 1 16.;A water-cooled open hearth furnace door includ ing a hollow metal shell comprising spaced inner and outer walls and means connecting said walls at their edges forming a-water jacket space over the outer side ofthe door, an arcuate closure plateof a' length substantially 7 equal to the width of said metal shell, the upper and lower edges of said closure plate being welded to the ex: terior of the lower portion of said outer wall forming therewith a compartment on the exterior of said shell and PERCY L.

References Cited By the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 4/591 7 FOREIGN PATENTS 9/49 Netherlands:

PATRICK, Primlary Examiner FREDERICK L. MATTESON, JR., Examiner; 

1. A WATER-COOLED HEARTH FURNACE DOOR COMPRISING A HOLLOW METAL SHELL FORMING A WATER JACKET SPACE OVER THE OUTER SIDE OF THE DOOR, A CLOSURE PLATE CONNECTED TO THE EXTERIOR OF THE LOWER OUTER EDGE PLATE CONNECTED SHELL AND FORMING THEREWITH A COMPARTMENT ON THE EXTERIOR OF SAID SHELL, AND REFRACTORY MATERAIL FILLING SAID COMPARTMENT AND PROVIDING PROTECTION FOR SAID LOWER OUTER EDGE PORTION OF SAID SHELL AGAINST THE SPLASHING OF HOT METAL. 